Published: Sunday, January 5, 2014, 12:38 AM

Updated: Sunday, January 5, 2014, 10:16 PM

They came from far and wide, drawn to Denver by the green glow of legal marijuana sales.

“It’s pretty surreal out here,” said Marisa Impellizzeri, a 27-year-old
master’s student from Kentucky. “I brought my camera to record this
historic moment.”
Impellizzeri’s purchase was not a speedy one, as she and the hundreds
of other customers at pot shop Evergreen Apothecary were given numbers
and told to return in two hours to make their purchases.

Brennan Linsley/AP

Cheyenne Fox, an employee and
daughter of the owner of a Denver marijuana store, attaches radio
frequency tracking tags to pot plants maturing inside a grow house.
Local businesses are reaping the harvest as tourists flock to Colorado,
where buying pot became legal Jan. 1.

In return for the wait, they were given limited edition certificates to
prove they were among the first Americans to ever buy marijuana legally
and without a prescription.RELATED: LEGAL RECREATIONAL POT SALES BEGIN IN COLO.
Since Colorado legalized recreational pot on Jan. 1, Evergreen has
served ganja lovers from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, said
co-owner Tim Cullen.

Theo Stroomer/Getty Images

Sam Walsh, a budtender, sets
up marijuana products as the 3-D Denver Discrete Dispensary prepares to
open for retail sales on Jan. 1 in Denver. Tour companies are offering
visits to the pot growers.

Even the tourist information desk at Denver International Airport had a
list of the nearly 20 places in the city to buy legal grass.
“I’m still amazed the federal government is letting this happen,” said
Cullen. “I can’t wait until New York state goes legal. Colorado will be
small-time compared to that.”

Two people have been cited for public consumption since Colorado became
the nation’s first state where buying a joint is completely legal.

RICK WILKING/REUTERS

People wait in line to be
among the first to legally buy recreational marijuana at the Botana Care
store in Northglenn, Colo., on New Year's Day.

RELATED: COLORADO VOTES TO APPROVE TAXES ON MARIJUANA SALES
The penalty for toking in public is the criminal equivalent of a parking ticket, with a top fine of $150.
Legal highs — and simple rules — are why Colorado is already becoming
the first “pot tourism” mecca in the United States, the Alpine
Amsterdam, if you will.

Charlotte Southern

Marijuana is weighed at
Evergreen Apothocary in Denver as recreactional marijuana sales became
legal at dispensaries across Colorado on Jan. 1.

As such, tour companies are stoked to light up the drug vacationers.
“The demand for our service has been nearly overwhelming — there’s a
tidal wave,” said Peter Johnson of Colorado Green Tours, whose magic bus
ferries visitors on tours of three of the newly legal dispensaries for
$399 — weed not included.RELATED: STORY CLAIMING 37 DIED OF WEED OVERDOSE A HOAX

Charlotte Southern

Marisa Impellizzeri, 27, of
Kentucky, outside Evergreen Apothecary in Denver, where she waited to
buy recreational marijuana.The graduate student in advertising and
brand management was in Denver to visit friends.

An eighth of an ounce is running about $65.
Matt Brown owns another “green” tour company, My 420 Tours — which describes itself as “your best friend in Colorado.”
He said 4,000 people have already signed up for his ganja express,
which will include visits with the pot growers, chefs who cook with
wacky tobaccy and some of the dozens of shops in and around Denver where
it’s now legal for anyone 21 or older to have a date with Mary Jane.

Brennan Linsley/AP

Customers stand in line after
the opening of 3D Cannabis Center, a legal recreational retail outlet
in Denver, on Wednesday morning.

“We want to show you that this is real and something you can go home and talk about with people,” said Brown.RELATED: DOCTOR HARSHES MELLOW WITH SCARY POT STATS
But Brown and others have already run into one major sticking point —
where to put all those would-be potheads. The entire city of Denver only
has about 600 hotel rooms where smoking is allowed — and it’s unclear
whether owners will add more.

Theo Stroomer/Getty Images

Sean Azzariti, an Iraq war
veteran, prepares to make the first legal recreational marijuana
purchase in Colorado from advocate Betty Aldworth at the 3-D Denver
Discrete Dispensary on Wednesday in Denver.